Two years ago, a documentary filmmaker met Joe Frazier in his gym in Philadelphia's 'Badlands', a poverty-stricken area. Frazier, the former heavyweight champion, still lives in a room at the back of the gym, a stark contrast to Muhammad Ali's multimillion-dollar image rights sales.
Frazier, who worked in a slaughterhouse and trained by running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art—later immortalised by the fictional Rocky Balboa—fought Ali in a trilogy of fights in the 1970s. The rivalry was marked by racial taunts, with Ali calling Frazier a 'gorilla' and an 'Uncle Tom'. Despite Frazier's loyalty when Ali was stripped of his title, Ali turned on him upon his return.
The 1971 fight at Madison Square Garden, which Frazier won, became a symbol of the era's racial politics. The third fight, the 'Thrilla in Manila' in 1975, was described by Ali as 'the nearest thing to death'. Frazier never watched the fight again.
The documentary aimed to explore not only boxing but the racial politics and personal betrayal that defined the rivalry. Frazier's bitterness was evident when he asked the filmmaker, 'Why didn't you come earlier?'
